Researchers and students

2Dsearch offers an alternative approach in which structured searches can be created by combining Boolean blocks on a two-dimensional canvas. The simplicity, clarity and transparency of the visual approach makes it an ideal tool for understanding the fundamentals of Boolean logic and learning how to create more effective searches.

How 2Dsearch can help:

• A visual approach which eliminates many errors associated with traditional Boolean strings

• Searches are analysed and common errors detected and corrections offered

• Support for searches across Google Scholar and many specialist databases

• AI-powered query suggestions to help you test and refine your search

• Outputs that may be shared as executable links or exported as traditional Boolean strings

Here are some comments from recent users:

• “I found the facet analysis the most difficult aspect. We, as a group, spent three tutorials debating the facets and where to put them in a PICO analysis. It wasn’t until I put the facets into 2Dsearch that I felt I could begin to interpret the narrative as well as understand the logic of the search query.” MSc student, City University London

• “2Dsearch is an intuitive application that supports not only ease of use but also increased understanding for problem solving. That it searches multiple databases and search engines from a single search query makes it very efficient. It allows the searcher to spend the most time working out the logic and not trying to remember idiosyncratic syntaxes for individual databases or search engines” MSc student, City University London